And I shall never breathe again…

Isn't that how that Toni Braxton song goes? Let's see - I'll do a quick search, and…

Yep. I seem to remember having an argument with Amanda once, because I thought it was "believe again" and she insisted it was "breathe" and I thought that promising not to ever breathe again was a bit drastic.

But I digress.

I guess I should say I feel like I'll never breathe again, at least not freely and without great effort. Spring has sprung, and it's brought with it allergy season. I awoke at 4:30 a.m., unable to breathe, with a dry mouth because apparently my body's autonomic nervous system switched to "mouth breathing" while I was sleeping.

Yuck.

Now that I'm upright and awake - and have lots of coffee in my system - it's a bit better. But still! Annoying.

Speaking of sinuses…

(Nice segue, huh?)

I didn't include this information on the previous post, for fear that Amanda might read it and spoil the surprise, but Jason was recruited at the last minute to perform a solo in Sunday's musical.

"Last minute" being at 5:15 p.m. the night before the performance, about 45 minutes before rehearsal.

We'd gotten to church early, so Jason (who has kind of been put in charge of some of the media stuff) could get the computer set to play the DVD soundtrack. Pastor Rich, the music minister, said, "So, Jason, you ready to do that other song?"

See, Jason was already scheduled to conduct one song so that Pastor Rich could sing a duet. And the "other song" was supposed to be sung by a girl who is singing with the tenors, but she'd decided on Wednesday that it was just too low and she couldn't do it. So, Jason assumed that since it was so late in the game that Pastor Rich would sing it, too, and he'd conduct the choir.

Wrong.

Jason said, "You mean conduct it, right?"

To which Pastor Rich replied, "No, I mean sing it. Didn't I tell you Wednesday night?"

Um, apparently not. But, he can be excused for forgetting - on top of his regular work, and getting ready for the musical, his wife's grandmother had just passed away in the middle-of-nowhere Arkansas, and she was already gone out there with her parents. That left him with their three kids (all under the age of 10) to pack and join her the next day.

He'd just gotten back into town in time for Saturday's rehearsal.

Jason, ever the trooper, said, "I've got 45 minutes before practice. I can get ready!"

The rest of the choir was as surprised as he was when time came to practice that song and he moved to the mic. He'd been running the computer (my cousin, who was supposed to do it, was moving and couldn't make practice) and Pastor Rich traded places with him.

(The second time he sang it, he recruited Anna Marie to run the computer. No joke!)

Jason did it perfectly in practice! I was so proud of him! The choir was going nuts!

And then, Sunday morning came.

We had to be at practice at 9 a.m. Jason, like many others, had his sinuses draining down his throat all night.

His voice cracked like a 12-year-old boy. He was mortified, but really, it could happen to anyone! He was wearing a tie at that point (and our friend Ron called it one of those "unfortunate early-morning tie/neck incidents) which may have made it more difficult to hit those notes. He took the tie off, Pastor Rich gave him some stuff to spray on his throat, and we all started praying.

Mom and Amanda came to see Jason conduct, but I didn't tell them about the solo. When he walked up front, I could see them glancing at each other like, "What the heck?"

He did a great job! His voice did crack just a teeny bit, but nowhere near what it had done two hours earlier, when it wasn't warmed up enough. He was embarrassed, but I've heard lots of folks comment on what a good job he did. And if I'd had a solo, I would've been in the same boat - I took a deep breath at one point, and was rewarded with a "frog" in my throat that I had to fight against for the next half hour. By myself, it would NOT have been pretty.

Those songs from the musical are supposed to enter our rotation for choir specials, so I can only hope that he'll get the chance to redeem himself once allergy season abates a bit.

Of course, I've always thought Jason was great, but it's nice for others to acknowledge it - those who aren't married to him!

So, here's hoping that allergy season ends swiftly, and we can all get back to breathing - and singing - again.